AVOIDING SITUATIONS AND TASKS[MENTAL HEALTH]3

Avoiding situations and tasks that frighten us is, in many ways, the most natural thing in the world. Evolutionarily speaking. It has also probably helped our species to survive! We see a bear and run from the bear. We see a lion and run from the lion. The problem comes when you apply this very same fight -or-flight reaction to situations that aren’t genuinely life-threatening -like taking on a new role at work, for example.

When we avoid these sorts of tasks , we get the temporary relief from anxiety and fear. ,but we also limit real opportunities that put us outside our comfort zones but could also be compelling and meaningful -such as developing new skills.

With that in mind, I’ve uncovered an array of impressive tactics we all use to avoid situations outside our comfort zones. As you go through them , think to yourself if any of these avoidance tactics applies to you.

Article 2

All of us in one way or another construct our lives at home and at work to avoid things that cause discomfort . Warren Buffet once lamented that in college he limited himself by only singing up for classes where he wouldn’t have to put himself out on a limb and speak in public . And whenever he did have to speak in public especially in the early days, the results weren’t pretty:” I would throw up,’ Buffet remarked. ”In fact , I arranged my life so that I never had to get up in front anybody.’ The famous classical composer Frederic Chopin was so uncomfortable performing in public that he turned down countless opportunities , performing only forty or so times in public in his thirty-year career.

And of course, it’s not just speaking in public that people fear. Many people avoid casual get- together at work because of their fear of making unscripted small talks with colleagues. In a recent survey commissioned by Age UK as part of a campaign to combat loneliness in the United Kingdom, researchers found that 60 percent of British people preferred being by themselves instead of making small talk by the water cooler .

The study also provided some very interesting insight into the techniques people use to avoid human contact, including hiding behind computer screens , making fake phone calls, and feigning deafness.

Article 3

Of course , there are some tasks and situations that you simply can’t avoid doing : for example , most professors can’t avoid teaching , even if they wanted to, because teaching is an inherent feature of the job. However professors do have more leeway to avoid things like presenting at conferences or giving keynotes speeches to corporate audiences. Oftentimes, the more power you have in an organization , the better equipped you are to structure your work life to avoid stressful tasks, , because you are less accountable to, say, a manager or, supervisor looking over your shoulder. For a very senior person, the stakes are often higher , since many people assume that people in top leadership positions should be capable of doing things such as giving speeches or delivering bad news-even if this is not necessarily true.

As a case in point , consider this description from Alexander Stein of Fortune Small Business of a CEO of a small company who was so terrified of asking customers and clients to pay invoices in a timely manner that he avoided the task altogether – obviously to the detriment of his own business.